Minnesota native makes his Broadway debut in 'Wicked'

Last week Ryan McCartan made his Broadway debut playing Fieryo, the lead male role in the hit musical "Wicked."

You might recognize him as Brad Majors in the Fox remake of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" a couple of years ago.

It's been a rapid ascent for the Excelsior native, who in 2011 won the Jimmy Award at the National High School Musical Theater Awards — theater critics describe them as the Tony's of high school.

McCartan shared the details of his Broadway debut with All Things Considered host Tom Crann. McCartan says just minutes before the curtain rose, he slipped and landed on his ankle while practicing a dance routine.

"I'm a hypochondriac ... so I landed on my ankle and I was like 'oh my gosh it's broken I can't do the show!' And of course then I calmed down and it hurt a little bit but I was fine and I could absolutely still do the show but I'll tell you something: it was sort of a Godsend because all I was thinking about my whole debut night was not twisting my ankle and so I didn't really have any time to think about how nervous I was. And then by the time the show was over I was like 'oh! I did it! Awesome!' And it's been pretty calm and cool ever since."

Family and friends attended McCartan's debut. He says there were a few minutes where he was able to take a breath and recognize that a life-long dream was coming true. McCartan says he first got involved in theater at the age of 8, after juvenile diabetes forced him to drop out of sports.

"I've been dreaming, wishing hoping that I might be on Broadway someday ever since — I mean from a very young age it's all I could really think about," he said.

McCarten also loves film and television, but he's particularly drawn to the thrill of performing live in front of an audience and the magic of theater. He says audiences will react very differently from night to night.

"There will be places the audience is so stunned, they're silent ... and in the exact same place the next night, they're so enthused they start clapping."

McCarten says the energy each audience brings helps to keep the gruelling schedule — eight shows a week — from becoming a grind. "Wicked" is running at the Gershwin Theater, which has a raked stage. McCarten says it's like performing the whole show on a hill, which can be really hard on a performer's joints. McCarten attends weekly physical therapy sessions to help prevent any injuries.

"Wicked" has been running for 15 years. In order to prepare to step into the part of Fieryo, McCarten worked with two dance captains and a stage manager to build his character.

"It's us alone in a rehearsal room and they're like 'imagine that there's a giant statue behind you and imagine that there are twenty people on stage with you.' I got one rehearsal with the full company and I was in costume and I was in full hair and make-up but they were in street clothes ... it was a really good practice run but frankly the first time I actually got to do the show with all of the pieces were with 2,000 people in the audience, for real, on my debut night."

McCarten says Wicked is a phenomenon; it's the sixth longest-running Broadway show ever.

"I was 10 in 2003 when it came out ... I remember wearing out the soundtrack — just listening to it over and over again ... and I remember, literally having the thought of 'oh man, I'd love to play that role on Broadway someday but by the time I'm old enough the show will be gone.' And here we are 15 years later and it's still truckin'."

McCarten says he's grateful for the team he gets to work with, and for the amazing energy of the audiences who are still coming, fifteen years later after Wicked first opened on Broadway.